


Service Dogs for Superheroes (SDfSH): Bucky and Fubar

by literally_no_idea



Series: Service Dogs for Superheroes (SDfSH) Main Series [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, PNES, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures - PNES, SDfSH 'verse, Seizures, Service Animals, Service Dogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 14:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17899934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literally_no_idea/pseuds/literally_no_idea
Summary: Having Bucky in the tower is… strange, at best. Tony certainly seems more on edge for about the first week, because no one’s quite sure how Bucky’s doing, mentally or physically, and Natasha thinks he’s probably just replaying what happened to his parents in his mind, so it makes sense.It becomes a lot easier for everyone to sympathize with Bucky after he has his first seizure on the communal floor. It’s terrible, Natasha knows, that it had taken Bucky having an emergency for people to warm up to him, but she can’t deny the facts. After everyone sees him go from walking towards the dining room with a glass of water to collapsed on the floor, body thrashing in a puddle of water and surrounded by broken glass, it’s hard to be mad at the guy.





	Service Dogs for Superheroes (SDfSH): Bucky and Fubar

**Author's Note:**

> wasn't sure how to tag this, but this part also contains a (very brief) mention of possible animal death.
> 
> with that said, welcome back to the series, or if you're new here, welcome! hope you enjoy.

Having Bucky in the tower is… strange, at best. Tony certainly seems more on edge for about the first week, because no one’s quite sure how Bucky’s doing, mentally or physically, and Natasha thinks he’s probably just replaying what happened to his parents in his mind, so it makes sense.

 

It becomes a lot easier for everyone to sympathize with Bucky after he has his first seizure on the communal floor. It’s terrible, Natasha knows, that it had taken Bucky having an emergency for people to warm up to him, but she can’t deny the facts. After everyone sees him go from walking towards the dining room with a glass of water to collapsed on the floor, body thrashing in a puddle of water and surrounded by broken glass, it’s hard to be mad at the guy.

 

He’s awkward and guarded; he seems terrified that the next time he turns around, someone’s going to restrain him and mind wipe him again, but he’s a genuinely good person. Natasha had known this, and so had Steve; in the Red Room, the Winter Soldier had been a bit of a legend, but Natasha remembers the first time she’d encountered him. He’d been heavily programmed, but there was some of his original personality hiding below the surface, and Natasha had seen a man, a broken, terrified man behind his eyes, and it had been one of the more uncomfortable missions she’d had to go through with. Steve remembers Bucky from before the war, the Zola experiments, the Winter Soldier, everything, and it’s clear by his expressions that he just desperately wants his friend back.

 

The more Natasha watches, she knows that Bucky isn’t angry, just scared, and she watches the way that when one of the dogs comes up, he doesn’t flinch like he does when a human approaches him, and he reaches down to pet them as gently as possible, always with his flesh hand, never the metal one, like he’s scared he’ll hurt them. Natasha watches, and decides to move Bucky to number one on her list, just like she’d done with Tony. She really wants to get Rhodey’s dog, but she figures Bucky’s needs are maybe a little more immediate. So she watches him and waits, finally getting her chance to talk to him when he heads into the gym on the communal floor by himself.

 

“Hey,” she says as she enters, following Bucky without waiting because she knows he’ll suspect what she’s up to anyway, “can I talk to you, Barnes?” Bucky turns without startling, confirming Natasha’s suspicion that he knew she was there, and he gives her a quick look up and down before nodding.

 

“Okay. What do you want?” he asks simply, and Natasha’s glad he’s at least straightforward, if nothing else.

 

“You seem like you’ve had a rough time of it lately, both mentally and physically. I wanted to offer you some support.”

 

Bucky snorts, turning away from her and walking over to set up a punching bag. “I’ve already got Steve climbing up my ass about talking to him, or going to a therapist, or whatever else. I think that’s enough support for me.”

 

“I wasn’t talking about me,” Natasha says, “I meant a dog. A service dog, like Diva or Lucky, that could help with the seizures, and as much else as possible.”

 

Bucky stops where he’d started working on the punching bag and steadies it without turning to face her. “You don’t honestly trust someone as dangerous as me with a dog, do you?” he asks bitterly, “You do realize that I could snap and get a dog killed, right?”

 

Natasha shakes her head, even if Bucky can’t see her. “You could do that, but I trust that you wouldn’t. I’ve seen you around the dogs. Even Bruce isn’t that gentle when he pets Smash. I think a dog could be perfect for you. Someone who can help, who understands, but who isn’t obnoxious and overly pushy,” she says, and by the small exhale she hears, she thinks Bucky understood her dig at Steve. “Look, you don’t have to know now. But think about it. It could be good for you. And you deserve to be happy,” she adds, and then she turns and leaves, hopefully giving Bucky time to process that last sentence.

 

* * *

 

Bucky gets back to her two weeks later. He finds her in the communal kitchen at 3am on Saturday, and he stands with his back to her, staring at the coffee maker without moving, before he says anything. “So let’s say I wanted a service dog. How would that work? What do you need to know for this to work out?”

 

“Well,” Natasha starts, thinking about her words carefully, “I need to know what you need. What the dog would need to help with. What I need to keep in mind for their training. And I need you to be completely honest with me about it all. I might need to talk to Steve, in case there’s anything he’s noticed that you haven’t.”

 

Bucky nods, back still to her. “Okay. Yeah, okay. Can we talk about this on Monday? I’ll need a few days to try and…” he thinks the words over, “piece everything together,” he settles on.

 

“Sure. Noon on Monday?”

 

Bucky nods, and that’s that. Natasha heads to bed, and she thinks Bucky probably follows not long after.

 

* * *

 

On Monday, Bucky sits down across from Natasha at the dining room table on Bucky and Steve’s floor, and slides her the notepad he’d been writing on for the last couple days. He’s got notes scribbled all over the first two pages, and then a neater list on the third.

 

“I wasn’t sure what all you wanted to see so. I thought I’d just leave it all,” he says, and Natasha nods.

 

“No, that’s great, thank you. It’s important to know everything.” Bucky fidgets while she looks over his writing, then flips to a new page.

 

“Okay. Is it alright if I start a new list here?” she asks, and he nods, standing up to get her a pen. “Alright. Based on what you’ve got here, I’ve got some ideas. Things I think might work, things that we might need to modify but that could probably work. You want to go through it all together?” Bucky nods again, so she launches into her ideas. About an hour and a half after Natasha had stepped onto Bucky and Steve’s floor, she’s leaving with a mostly completed list, and all that’s left is to check with Steve, too, but she suspects there isn’t much left to add.

 

* * *

 

The hardest part, Natasha thinks, is finding the right dog for Bucky. He needs a dog that’s big enough to brace on and big enough not to worry that he’ll hurt the dog. He needs a dog that’s friendly and sweet, but able to focus on keeping people away from Bucky sometimes, not letting them approach. Bucky needs a dog that isn’t afraid to use intelligent disobedience to help him, but is also able to listen to commands if Bucky really, really does need the dog to back off. He needs a dog that will be able to keep up with his super soldier energy, but spend days in bed if Bucky’s having a rough patch.

 

It’s a lot to consider, so Natasha takes her time, does some research, before finally coming to her conclusion. She finds a breeder that will have puppies ready to go to new homes in a few weeks, so she checks her passport, gets her plane ticket, and waits.

 

* * *

 

When she arrives at the breeder’s place, she’s actually a little underwhelmed. With the high price of the puppy, she’d expected a more elaborate, sophisticated home, not the small, cozy place she walks into on the outskirts of Нерюнгри. The breeder is kind, an older gentleman who leads her back to a small bedroom that’s been converted into a den for the mom and puppies. The puppies are three months old, and even at such a young age, they’re already huge.

 

Natasha confirms with the breeder that she can do a few simple temperament tests with the pups, and then she sits on the floor, watching the puppies play. As soon as she sits down, three of the eight puppies immediately rush her, jumping into her lap and then running off, and she notes the color of the collars they’re wearing, mentally puts them on her “less favorable” list, and continues watching.

 

After a few more moments, another puppy wanders up to her, sniffing tentatively at her hands, and then crawls into her lap, placing its paws on her chest and looking up to sniff her face. Natasha watches the puppy, smiling, and places the puppy on her “more favorable” mental list, then decides to test one of the next items on her list. She picks the puppy up in her hands, and he flails for a moment before stopping, licking Natasha’s hand once and then settling.

 

Natasha puts the pup back on the floor, then pulls a small foam ball out of her pocket. She holds it towards the puppy, then tosses it a few feet away. The puppy follows its movement, turns to look back at Natasha, and then wanders over and picks it up, bringing it back to her. Natasha takes the ball, scratching the puppy gently behind the ears. She puts the ball back in her pocket, then quickly spins, slamming her hands down on the floor in front of the pup and shouting “boo!” The puppy takes a half step back, then steps forward, licking Natasha’s chin.

 

Mostly satisfied, Natasha stands, walking towards the door to go talk to the breeder. As she walks, she looks behind her and finds the puppy following a few feet behind, still stumbling a little over its huge paws, and she smiles. She talks to the breeder over a cup of tea, and after signing some paperwork and paying him in cash, she thanks him, goes back to the bedroom, and picks up the puppy with the blue collar, heading out after a last goodbye to the breeder.

 

The flight home is later that night, so Natasha finds the nearest pet friendly coffee shop and waits, keeping the puppy in her lap as she drinks her second cup of tea for the day.

 

* * *

 

The flight itself is uneventful, and Natasha spends it thinking about names for the puppy. When she gets back to the tower, she asks Jarvis to let Bucky know the puppy is home and they’re on the communal floor if he wants to meet him. Bucky’s down after about half an hour, and he finds Natasha carrying the puppy around in her arms, describing everything to him.

 

“What’s his name?” Bucky asks, and Natasha turns, holding the puppy out to Bucky.

 

“FUBAR,” she says, and Bucky takes the puppy, laughing even as he tries to hold back tears.

 

“Fucked Up Beyond All Repair,” Bucky says, holding the puppy with his flesh arm and very gently petting him with his metal index finger, as if he’s worried that he’ll hurt the puppy with his metal arm somehow. “Yeah. Yeah, that fits. Thanks, Nat.”

 

“Don’t thank me yet, we still have years of training to go,” she says, but she’s smiling as she says it, watching as Fubar puts his paws on Bucky’s shoulder and licks his face, and she has no doubt this will work out fine.

 

* * *

 

At just 6 months old, Fubar is already 75 pounds. He’s learning his obedience commands quickly, he’s gotten all of his vaccinations, and he’s taken to trotting around with Bucky everywhere he goes, even to the bathroom. While Bucky’s initially nervous about being left alone with Fubar, Natasha reassures him that he’ll be fine, and even if something does happen, Jarvis would never let anyone’s safety be put at risk, even Fubar’s, so Bucky rolls with it, and over time it’s obvious how much even just Fubar’s presence helps Bucky.

 

Fubar gets along great with the other dogs too, even if he does tend to annoy Diva with the sheer amount of puppy energy he has.

 

* * *

 

At 9 months old, Fubar is already starting to show behaviors that could be easily shaped into the tasks Bucky will need from him in the future, and, much to Natasha’s (as well as Bucky and Steve’s) delight, Fubar often seems to be able to predict Bucky’s seizures, whining and pawing at his leg a few minutes in advance. Even when he doesn’t manage to predict them, he’s already watched Steve’s response to Bucky’s seizures enough times that he’s started to help Steve set up around Bucky as soon as they start, grabbing a pillow for Steve to put under Bucky’s head and circling around Bucky to keep people away.

 

Natasha starts working with both Fubar and Bucky to actually train those behaviors or similar behaviors into tasks, and both of them are quick learners; Bucky starts carrying treats everywhere he goes, and on a few occasions Natasha’s woken up in the middle of the night and gone down to the communal floor to grab a cup of tea, only to hear Bucky and Fubar doing some training in the new practice room Tony had made. After discovering that Bucky would sometimes have to fake seizures for Fubar to practice responding, Tony had built a training room specifically for service dog training, complete with a padded floor for Bucky to fall on when faking seizures, fake accessible door buttons in various styles, non-operational light switches on the wall, and dog ‘panic’ buttons (“that way, if Bucky needs help in the tower and Fubar can’t help, Fubar can push the button and it will alert the nearest person to come help,” Tony had explained).

 

Natasha sometimes just sits in the hallway near the practice room, listening to Bucky and Fubar train. She’s encouraged by the fact that every time she listens in, Bucky sounds optimistic and gives Fubar lots of praise, so they must be doing well together. Once or twice she’s also heard Bucky crying in there, but before she could even decide whether to go help she’d heard laughter, and a “thanks, Foobs,” and then silence, so she figures Fubar has it covered.

 

* * *

 

At a year and a half, Fubar and Bucky are doing a great job together, and Fubar seems to finally be growing into his paws at 145 pounds. The only tasks that Natasha hasn’t been able to introduce to the two of them yet is Fubar’s mobility tasks, but those will have to wait until Fubar’s old enough to have his elbows and hips checked for dysplasia, and Fubar’s doing great with all of his other tasks. He’s learned to work off leash, and with his good manners, Natasha has even started to go with Bucky and Fubar on short trips to public places.

 

Fubar wears the service dog vest that Tony had created for him (“What?” Tony had said when Bucky stared at him, holding the new vest, “You don’t really think I’d let any of you walk out of this tower without something stylish and designer on, do you? I cannot have your bad fashion sense besmirch my good reputation, Barnes!”), and trots beside Bucky, stepping away long enough to step into rooms, check for threats, and then return to a heel when he’s confident it’s safe for Bucky to enter.

 

Fubar has yet to have a problem with his public access manners, even after one particularly frightening encounter at a grocery store in which a Golden Retriever had rushed towards Fubar, growling and snapping, only for a man to come around the corner, picking up the dog’s leash with a quick “It’s okay, he’s friendly!”

 

(Bucky had been so shaken that Fubar had actually had to take the leash in his mouth and pull Bucky over to a secluded area in the back of the store, jumping on Bucky’s chest until he sat down on the floor and Fubar could do deep pressure therapy. When Bucky had been finally calm enough for Natasha to get him to talk to her, she confirmed that he was okay and then searched through the store until she found the Golden Retriever and it’s handler. She spoke to the man for a few minutes, and by the time she was done, the man looked a little pale but reassured her that he wouldn’t bring his dog back in again without better training. He was owner training the dog himself, and while Natasha could sympathize, she also wasn’t willing to budge, because that could never happen again. Ever.)

 

* * *

 

At 2 years old, Natasha and Bucky took Fubar in to be evaluated and have his elbows and hips checked for dysplasia. The vet took the x-rays and sent them off, then gave Fubar a full evaluation, informing them that as long as the x-rays came back okay, Fubar was in perfect health and absolutely set to do mobility work.

 

The x-rays came back about a month later, and Fubar was cleared for mobility. Tony made Fubar a custom, heavy duty mobility harness, Natasha showed Bucky how to train Fubar to brace, and they started working on Fubar’s various mobility tasks, everything from guiding to bracing to counterbalance. Within a matter of months, Natasha considered Fubar fully trained, and Bucky was confident enough in both Fubar’s training and his own capabilities to start going out of the tower on his own.

 

If the look on Bucky’s face the first time he and Fubar came home with an armful of things he’d thought everyone might enjoy from the store was anything to go by, then Natasha was once again confident that she’d made the right decisions in getting Bucky a service dog. Now, for the next person on her list. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any more new people she’d have to add to this list…

**Author's Note:**

> Here's your service dog facts for the day!
> 
> -There's two types of seizure service dogs: seizure alert dogs and seizure response dogs. Seizure alert dogs can give their handlers time to either take medication before the seizure to prevent it or to find somewhere safe to lay down to have the seizure, while seizure response dogs take care of their handler after the seizure starts, such as by laying under the handler's head to keep them from hurting their head while they're convulsing, pushing the handler onto their side to help them breathe, or keeping people away from their handler while the episode happens.
> 
> -Seizure alert dogs cannot be taught to predict seizures. They have to be naturally capable of doing so, and then trained to do so consistently. This makes seizure alert dogs in high demand, so wait times to get trained seizure alert dogs from organizations can be extensive (anywhere from months to years or possibly up to a decade).
> 
> Regarding Bucky's seizures:
> 
> Bucky has PNES, or Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures. These are seizures that are similar to epileptic seizures, but they are not caused by abnormal electrical discharges in the brain. They're often caused by trauma, and are psychological in nature. Another story that includes Bucky with PNES is Fear by hobbywriting here on AO3, and you can find the story [ here ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5744227/chapters/13236637)
> 
> Ideas for Bucky's dog FUBAR come from the webcomic Bucky and FUBAR [ on tumblr here ](http://buckyandfubar.tumblr.com)
> 
> That webcomic is by the amazing person Lisa, or [ yawpkatsi ](http://yawpkatsi.tumblr.com) on tumblr.
> 
> Also in this chapter, Natasha tests the temperaments of the puppies to decide which puppy to get. You can find one good explanation of this process [ over here on Psychiatric Service Dog Partners' website ](https://www.psychdogpartners.org/resources/getting-a-dog/pick-puppy-service-dog-prospect)
> 
> Bruce/Hulk's dog being named Smash and the original concept for this series comes from AO3 user [ thingswithwings ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thingswithwings/pseuds/thingswithwings) and their story [ "Five Ways to Get In Touch with Your Inner Mild-Mannered Scientist" ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/429749?view_adult=true)
> 
> Finally, if you'd like to see some of my other rambles about this series and/or want to talk to me about it, you can find me on tumblr [ over here ](https://servicedogsforsuperheroes.tumblr.com)
> 
> The next part of this series will be introducing some of the Defenders, so stay tuned!


End file.
